Tulipa biflora Pall., 1776

Tojibaev, Komiljon, Dekhkonov, Davron, Ergashov, Ibrokhimjon, Sun, Hang, Deng, Tao & Yusupov, Ziyoviddin, 2022, The synopsis of the genus Tulipa (Liliaceae) in Uzbekistan, Phytotaxa 573 (2), pp. 163-214 : 200-201

5.2. Tulipa biflora Pall. in Reise Russ. Reich. 3(2): App. 727 (1776).

Type:— RUSSIA. Habitat ad Wolgam locis desertis maxime argillosis, “Deserta Caspica”, Fischer sn. (holotype B-W-06559-010; syntypes BM 000528948! and M; lectotype designated by Eker et al. 2014) .

Description:—Bulb ovoid, 1.5–2.0 cm thick; tunic brown or reddish-brown, papery, inside covered with thin arachnoid hairs, woolly at apex; stem 10–20 cm long, the stem and peduncle glabrous; leaves mostly 2, scattered, deflexed, very rarely spreading, glabrous, smooth, linear, green and slightly glaucous; lower leaf broader, 3–7(10) mm broad, slightly exceeding the flowers; flowers 1 or 2 (up to 6), star-shaped; perigone segments white, yellow at base, 13–25 mm long, acute; outer segments lanceolate, dingy violet outside, bearded at base, about half as broad as the inner; inner segments oblong to oblong-ovate, acuminate, gradually tapering into a rather long claw, bearded at base, ciliate; stamens half the length of perigone; filaments yellow, bearded at base; anthers oblong, 2–3 mm long, yellow, with a very short point; ovary scarcely shorter than stamens, short-styled; capsule short beaked, 8–13 mm in diameter, about as long as or slightly longer than broad.

General distribution:— Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, China (northern part), the south of Russia, Transcaucasia, Crimea, the north of Iran.

Distribution in Uzbekistan:—II-8 Ustyurt district (II-8-a North Ustyurt region).

Phenology:—Flowering: April; fruiting: May.

Ecology:—Saline deserts, clayey cliffs, in plains, up to 100 m a.s.l.

Etymology:—Species epithet “ biflora ” means “two-flowered”.

Note:— Tulipa biflora is a very variable species with a wide range, differing greatly in size ( Everett 2013). In the understanding of the range and geographical distribution of this species, we follow Vvedensky (1935) and Vvedensky & Kovalevskaja (1971) who regarded T. biflora s.s., while Christenhusz et al. (2013) treated T. sogdiana , T. buhseana Boissier (1859: 98) , T. binutans Vvedensky (1952: 33) , and several other species as synonyms of T. biflora . The species is widespread in the northern part of Central Asian deserts, and does not occur in Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts. Zonneveld (2009) reported that all accessions of T. biflora have a rather narrow range of variation in the nuclear DNA values, and differing mainly in the number and size of the flowers. Nevertheless, he admitted the possibility of the presence of new, undiscovered species from the affinity of T. biflora in Central Asia. Later, Perezhogin (2013) described two new species from northern Kazakhstan [ T. auliekolica Perezhogin (2014: 145) and T. turgaica Perezhogin (2014: 145) ]. In addition, Everett (2013) reported the yellow form of this species from Afghanistan.

Specimens examined:— UZBEKISTAN: Ustyurt district , North Ustyurt region , eastern cliff of Ustyurt plateau, 5 km north of the descent Kassarma, west side of the nameless spring, 3 th terrace, 23 May 1970, Sarybaev 5 ( TASH) .